Present Committee members:
David Roberts, Chair
Andrew Bailey, Governor
Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor – Financial Stability
Clare Lombardelli, Deputy Governor - Monetary Policy
Sir Dave Ramsden, Deputy Governor – Markets & Banking
Sam Woods, Deputy Governor – Prudential Regulation
Jonathan Bewes
Sabine Chalmers
Lord Jitesh Gadhia
Dame Anne Glover
Sir Ron Kalifa
Diana Noble
Tom Shropshire
In attendance:
Sarah John, Chief Operating Officer
Secretary:
Sebastian Walsh, Secretary of the Bank
1. Conflicts, Minutes, Matters Arising and Forward Planner
The minutes of the meeting held on 24 July were approved.
2. Governor’s Update
The Governor gave an update on monetary policy following the MPC announcement on 18 September. The Governor updated Court on the global economic outlook.
The Governor briefed Court on the upcoming stablecoins Consultation Paper.
The Governor updated Court on business planning for 2026/27.
3. Monetary Policy Transformation Programme/Bernanke Review
(Clare Lombardelli and Iain de Weymarn)
Clare Lombardelli updated Court on the Monetary Policy Transformation. She said that the changes to the communications of the MPC decision would go live in November. In response to questions, Iain de Weymarn said that the August trial of the communications approach had been successful, and that the MPC supported the substance of the new approach whilst having some queries on aspects of the process which he and his team were addressing.
Iain de Weymarn said that the Programme was now embarking on an engagement programme to explain the changes to internal and some external stakeholders.
4. Remuneration Committee (RemCo) Update
(Diana Noble)
Diana Noble gave an update on the recent meeting of RemCo.
5. COO Update
(Sarah John)
Sarah John updated Court on progress on the Location Strategy Project, the ongoing Flexibility Review and the start of pay negotiations with the Union. Sarah John noted the 26/27 year business planning was underway and would come to Court in October, efficiency targets were expected to be met but involved difficult trade-offs.
Sarah John explained to Court a revised structure for the delivery of an efficiency programme, given the overlapping requests from Directorates. Instead of allocating funding for each individual efficiency subproject requested by individual Directorates, a central team would triage and deliver capabilities to work alongside business areas. This will spread learning and improve the quality and speed of delivery. In response to questions, Sarah John said that the Bank was considering how it communicated its risk tolerance within business areas, to ensure efficiency improvements were not held back unnecessarily.
- Multi-year renewal Contract for the Oracle Software as a Service (SaaS) and related Oracle Cloud Infrastructure used by the Finance Modernisation programme
Court approved the contract.
6. RTGS Renewal Programme Update
(Victoria Cleland and John Stocker)
Victoria Cleland introduced the RTGS closure report and noted that RTGS operations had worked well since go live.
In response to questions Victoria Cleland updated Court on the roadmap for RTGS enhancements, noting a consultation on opening CHAPS for settlement from 1.30am was currently live, with plans to discuss further enhancements with industry progressing. Court asked to receive an update on this work in 2026.
Directors discussed how the lessons learnt on the RTGS programme could be shared across other Bank transformation programmes, highlighting in particular RTGS’s positive culture.
7. Union Presentation
(Faisel Choudhry)
Faisel Choudhry updated Court on the work of the Union.
The Chair thanked Faisel Choudhry and acknowledged that a strong Union could help deliver better outcomes for staff and the Bank together. The Governor noted the work of the Union is part of the work of the Bank.
8. Appointment of David Soanes to FMIC
(Sebastian Walsh)
Court approved the appointment.
9. Committee Appointments and Conflicts
(Sebastian Walsh)
Court approved the appointment of Ben Martin as Executive Director – Data.
RemCo agreed the remuneration package.
Court noted the paper.
10. Papers for Information
Court noted:
- Monetary Policy Committee Report
- RTGS/CHAPS Annual Report
- Scottish & Northern Ireland Banknotes Annual Report 2025
- Technology Resourcing Neutral Vendors Service
- Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between HM Treasury, the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority: Overseas Recognition Regimes (Category B)
- Approved minutes from Committee meetings since the last meeting of Court on 24 July 2025
- RemCo minutes 27 June 2025
The meeting of Court was closed.